By V. Phani Kumar, MarketWatch
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil prices edged further higher in electronic trading Thursday, encouraged by a weakened dollar and additional gains for U.S. equity index futures.
May crude-oil futures CLK2 +0.27% rose 43 cents, or 0.4%, to $103.13 a barrel by late afternoon in Tokyo.
The rise was on top of a $1.68 advance in the regular New York Mercantile Exchange session Wednesday, when global equity and commodity markets broadly staged a rebound from the previous day’s fall.
The ICE dollar index DXY -0.07% fell to 79.595 in Asia, down from 79.791 in late North American trade Wednesday, supporting many commodities, including crude-oil.
Pointing toward a likely higher opening on Wall Street, Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA +0.70% futures rose 57 points, or 0.5%, to 12,801.
Elsewhere in the energy complex, May gasoline RBK2 +0.01% and heating-oil HOK2 +0.07% contracts were both little changed, at $3.30 per gallon and at $3.12 per gallon, respectively.
May natural gas futures NGK12 0.00% , which fell below the $2-level Wednesday, were unchanged at $1.98 per million British thermal units.
Varahabhotla Phani Kumar is a reporter in MarketWatch's Hong Kong bureau.
